Toothbrush



Aug. 2, 1932. w. @WHITE ET AL TOOTHBRUSH` Filed March 14. 1930 PatentedAug. 2,1932 Y Y Y UNITED. STATES. PATENT Frio W'Ill'iLIAMrk C. WHITE ANDWILBUR D. MCCRAY, OFLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

TOOTHBRUSH Application led March 14, 1930. Serial No. 435,789.

This invention relates to improvements in dra-Wing, that vOIIH Of tOOtllbIuSll tlISIl 3S tooth brushes, and has for an object the proan entiretyand shown in Figure 1 is desievision of a tooth brush'whic'h has itsparts Dated aS A, and the form in Figure f1 as y so constructed andarranged that the. brush BOth forms have many elements in common 5 isadapted to give a gentle massage to the although one form A utilizes amotor and 55 gums during a Cleansing of tho tooth. Tho the form Butilizes a vibrator. However, the tooth brush likewise, is so formed and@loturesult accomplished by both forms is identical. ated as to directlycontact with all crevices The fOrIn A will be first described. Thebetween the teeth for the proper removal (':asingv a is adapted to houseany form 0f. of deleterious Substanoea motor b, the shaft of which issecured to a so With thisinvention7 we have provided a, blOCl which `isadapted t0 I'Otate in a Suittooth brush wherein the brush is adapted toable bushing 2, and this block carries an echave transverse oscillation,the result being centric pin 8. A member l is Secured to the that theuser of this brush nood only hold casing at an end thereof, this memberhaving the brush against the teeth in order to dea Central Opening fOr,reevng the bushing 65 rive all the benefits as above set forth in the2, and to the member 4 is secured a further objects, A housing or casing5 for housing other ele- Other obj ccts of the invention will appearments of the invention. This casing or housasthe specification proceeds,among which ing 5 is provided with an elongated pOItiOn 2e objects .isthe provision of L tooth brush within which is an annular` bushing 7.This 7:) which is simple of construction, inexpensive annular bushing isprovided with internal of manufacture, and superior to any handscrew-threads 8 and likewise transversely tooth brush, Y slotted at 9.Received within the said bush- With thoabovo md other objects in View,ing is a shaft 10. This shaft is provided with the invention consists inthe novel and useeXternal screw-threads 11 adapted to coop- 75 fulprovision, formation, construction, assoerate with threads 8 of thebushing 7 and ciation, and relativel arrangement of parts, one end ofsaid shaft within a chamber porniembers and features, all as shown incertain tion 12 of the housing or casing 5, carries Y embodiments in theaccompanying drawing, a guide 13. This guide includes a pair ofVdescribed generally, and more particularly spaced members 14 and 15,between which 80 pointed out in the claims. is a block 16, the saidblock being ycarried In the drawing: y upon the stud 3. It will `benoted that the Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly'in secguide 13depends from the shaft 10. The

tion, showing one form of the improved tooth shaft 10 extends beyond thebushing 7 and brush, Y its housing 6, as shown at 17 and the shaft is Sbc Figure 2 is an end elevation looking in the centrally bored at 18, andlikewise diametridirection of the brush head, cally split as shown at19. The port-ion 17 Figure 3 is a cross sectionalview on the is`externally threaded at 2O and adapted to line 3--3 of Figure 1, Kreceive a compressing cap 21. In other words,

w Figured is a longitudinal sectional view the external diameter of theshaft adjacent 9U of a modified form of the tooth brush. the splitportion varies more or less progres- Figure 5 is a sectional view on theline sively and the cap when secured to the screw- 5 5 of Figure 4L,threads, compresses this portion of the shaft.

r Figure 6 is a sectional viewY on the line rA transverse rpin 22` spansthe bore 18 and 6-6 of Figure 4, y -within said bore we provide a brushre- 95 Figure 7 is a sectional view .on the line ceiving head 23 securedto a stem 24, one end 7-7`of Figure 4, and, of which stem is bifurcatedat 25. The stem Figure 8 is a sectional view on the line is adapted tobe received within the bore of 8 8 of Figure 4. Y the shaft with the pin22 between the bifurca- Referring now with particularityto the tions 25.The head part 23 includes a base .100

member 26 and two side pieces 26a and 265 at an angle to said base. Theside pieces of the head are preferably made of spring-like material andare adapted to grip the base 27 of a tooth brush 28.

The operation of this particular form of the inv -ntion is as follows:

The motor may be battery driven or driven by electric light current andthe shaft of the motor will rotate, which in turn will rotate the stud 3which is in olf-center relation or eccentric to the shaft of the motor.This eccentricity is sutlicient to cause the slide block 16 toreciprocate between the guides of the guide block 13, thus crea-tingtransverse oscillation of the shaft l0. As the shaft carries threadsllwhich are in mesh with the threads S of the bushing, the shaft inaddition to transversely oscillating will likewise longitudinallyoscillate. The bushing is prevented from turning by a screw or similarmeans 29 received within the slot 9.

The form of the invention B includes a casing (Z within which is adaptedto be housed a vibrator e. This form of vibrator is adapted to beoperated by alternating current, and the same includes an electro-magnet29 and an armature 30. One end of the armature is secured to aleaf-spring 3l, the spring in turn being secured to a base or block 32,being the saine base or block that holds the electro-mag net 29.Vibration of the armature is controlled by an adjusting screw 33 andafixed screw 34, both of which screws are adapted to bear againstleaf-springs 35 and 36 secured to the armature 30. No particular claimis made to this construction, as it is of the type that is in ordinaryuse for vibrators. The casing is provided with an annular end piece 37and the armature extends partly through the opening thereof, as shown at38. The casing (Z is formed with an annular inwardly directed Tian ge 39and a housing 40 is adapted to be secured to the casing Z and bearagainst this flange 39, as shown at 4l. Secured to the housing 40 is anannular flanged plate 42, and adapted to be interposed between the plate42 and the end piece 37 is the mechanism depicted in Figure 8. Thismechanism includes a ratchet 43 secured to a stud shaft 44, the studshaft being passed through the annular opening in the plate 42. A pawl45 is swingingly carried by a plate 46. This plate 46 is spaced from theplate 42 and swingingly carried on a pin 47. Furthermore, the plate 46carries a further pawl 4S. Both pawls are urged into tooth engagementwith the ratchet by means of springs 49 and 50. The free end of thearmature is received within a slot 5l of the plate 46. The stud shaft 44is pinned to a member 52. This member is provided with a pin or stud 53eccentric to the stud shaft 44, and this pin 53 is in turn receivedwithin an o1 ening 54 of a slide block 55, this slide block beingreceived between members 56 and 57 of a guide 58. This guide isidentical with the guide shown for the form A, and furthermore theremaining parts of the invention are the same as shown in the form Aand, accordingly, like reference characters will be applied. It isrealized, of course, that the housing is slightly differently formed butthe form is immaterial.

The operation, uses and advantages of this form of the invention are asfollows:

Whereas in the form of the invention A the motor reciprocates andlongitudinally oscillates the brush head at high speed, the form Breduces the speed of oscillation and reciprocation by the mechanismshown in Figure 8. It will be noted that when the armature is vibratingthat the plate 46 is oscillated back and forth about its pivotal point47. This oscillation actuates the pawls 45 and 48 to cause rotation ofthe pinion 43. The pinion in turn will rotate the stud shaft 44 andcause rotation of the eccentric stud 53. T his stud 53 is free to rotatein the opening 54 of the block 55 and, as a consequence, due to thethreaded arrangement between the shaft 10 and the bushing 7,longitudinal oscillation is possible as well as lateral reciprocation orvibration. It is quit-e evident that by the arrangement shown, the speedoscillation and reciprocation both longitudinally and laterally willdepend upon the number of teeth on the ratchet 43. The same system asshown in Figure 8 could be utilized for the form shown in Figure l.

It is obvious that we have provided a form of tooth brush which iscapable of performing a more etiicient cleansing operation than by theordinary manually operated tooth brush. The invention is adaptable toany type of brush or for that matter vibrator. The inventors are awarethat numerous vibrators are on the market which simply vibrate, but sofar as the inventors are aware, there is no vibrator on the market thatis capable of longitudinal oscillation or vibration along with lateraloscillation or vibration.

Itis obvious that various changes and mod ifications and variations maybe made in practicing the invention in departure from the particularshowing of the drawing and description as given without departing fromthe true spirit of the invention.

We claim:

l. In a device of the character disclosed, a shaft provided withscrew-threads, a brush head, means on said shaft for det-achablysecuring a brush head, the opposite end of said shaft being providedwith a guide member, a slide block for said guide member, propulsivemeans for reciprocating said slide block relative to the guide, and ascrewthreaded bushing in engagement with the threads of the shaft andwhereby when the slide block is moved, the shaft is laterally and Cillogitudnally oscillated t in turn osoillate the head. n

2. In a device of the character disclosed,

a propulsive element, a plate adapted to be oseillated by movement ofsaid propulsive element, said plate carrying a pawl and a ratchetadapted to be turned by said pawl when the plate is vbrated, a head, andmeans of connection between said head and the ratchetshaft wherebyrotation vof said ratchet shaft produces longitudinal and lateraloscillation of the head.

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this specification atLos Angeles, California, this 24th day of February, 1930.

WILLIAM C. WHITE. WILBUR D. MCCRAY.

